Who Opposes Public/Private Financial Partnerships for Urban Renewal? A Case Study

A public/private financial partnership to build a regional mall in the central business district was defeated in Bellingham, Washington, by a successful initiative drive. It prohibited the city from issuing bonds to pay for its share of the joint project. The purpose of this study was to find out who opposed the project and why. The research evidence suggests that critics of the intra-urban shopping center supported the initiative for two interrelated sets of reasons: dislike of specific aspects of the matt proposal and dislike of the public/private financial planning approach. Since the concept of government/corporate cooperation is gaining popularity in public policies dealing with economic and land-use planning, the research focused on the second type of opposition. The data revealed a pattern that may have relevance in other communities also. It appears that (1) traditional critics of government power, i.e., individualist-conservatives, libertarians, and right-wing populists; (2) traditional critics of corporate power, i.e., left liberals, American socialists, and left-wing populists; and (3) traditional critics of large construction projects, i.e., “sensible growth” advocates, formed an unintended coalition and gained a voting majority at the polls.